[parsifal]

"I cannot recall one conservative issue you agree with"

I support the 2nd Amendment. I believe in the death penalty, in theory. I am against most gov't interference in business. I think gov't is too big and powerful. I think power should be reserved to the people. I think the lazy poor ought to be put to work. I think strip clubs are sinful. I think Hugh Hefner is a pimp. I can't stand Bill Clinton and think he should have been impeached. I think Jesse Jackson is a clown. Gee, should I continue?

Where I part company from most conservatives, is that I think big business is darn near as bad as big gov't. I think the people should be allowed to sue big companies. I think minimum wages should be up around $8.00. I think most businessmen share the same mental make-up as criminals and welfare-recipients. I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much, and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks. I am not torqued out by homos, blacks, and poor folks. etc. parsy.

[VRWC_minion]

How do you balance this

I am against most gov't interference in business. I think gov't is too big and powerful. I think power should be reserved to the people.

With this

I think minimum wages should be up around $8.00. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks.

[TomB]

Where I part company from most conservatives, is that I think big business is darn near as bad as big gov't. I think the people should be allowed to sue big companies. I think minimum wages should be up around $8.00. I think most businessmen share the same mental make-up as criminals and welfare-recipients. I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much, and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks. I am not torqued out by homos, blacks, and poor folks. etc.

In the future it would be easier to say that you are greedy and jealous.

[VRWC_minion]

And given your belief on non-interference how do you attack this problem

is that I think big business is darn near as bad as big gov't

[GOP_1900AD]

Many (most?) businessmen these days are closer to a Gramsican Marxist mentality than that of the 19th century industrialists. They love (and optimize) their high incomes but many vote on the far left. Within most major (e.g. Fortune 500) corporations, the PC garbage runs thick and deep. Hard core anti-sovereign mentality, particularly aimed at the US, is common. And, I hasten to add, the tendancy to appease the PRC as well as numerous other enemies of America is rampant. Treason is well thought of and it is considered very politically incorrect to use geopolitical criteria in decision making regarding both supply chain design as well as market investment. While a number of these things have sprung from the installation of folks who got educational deferments (and did dope, burned flags, spit on GIs, etc...) into the halls of power since the 1980s, some of it goes back as far as the 1920s. Witness the dirty (and ultimately treasonous) dealings of GE and Ford (among others) with National Socialist Germany; dealings that anyone with half a brain would have cut off way back around 1934.

I think you can see that my biggest criticisms of corporate leaders have more to do with issues of patriotism than with issues of personal compensation.

[rdb3]

I think minimum wages should be up around $8.00.

Why not $100?

I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much, and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks.

Why should there be a "100% estate tax for most rich folks," and what do you mean by "most?"

Karl Marx is smiling somewhere. You are making positive statements (no, that doesn't mean "good"), but they totally lack normative value. What justifies anyone paying a 100% tax on anything? You say the government is too big and all, yet you would use this same government to hammer who you think should be hammered. Why?

You are skating the socialist line, buddy. Be careful where you land.

[1L]

I think big business is darn near as bad as big gov't.

Absurd. Companies are totally beholden to their customers and shareholders. Lousy service = no customers (except for government); poor performance = low stock price and little incentive for more capital investment (except for government); idiotic decision making by companies can lead to shareholder derivative suits (can't do that to the govt.), bankruptcy, and failure (govt. keeps on printing and spending). In addition -- take Enron -- criminal behavior means criminal penalties. Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton haven't served a day in jail, though they both belong there.

I think the people should be allowed to sue big companies.

Ahhh, they are! As a defense attorney, I can testify to that. I have cases on my desk from big companies getting sued -- mostly for stupid and illegitimate reasons. Go try and sue a govt. entity.

I think minimum wages should be up around $8.00.

This is way too low. Minimum wage should be $1000 a day. Don't you think? If not, how did you come up with $8 and why do you think that will work? Further, what will happen when those adhering to the $8 an hour stop giving raises and the current $11 an hour folks have to take a pay cut (which WILL happen)?

I think most businessmen share the same mental make-up as criminals and welfare-recipients.

This is just stupid. I know plenty of businessmen (and women) and I know a few too many criminals. Neither have anything in common.

I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much,

Then you aren't paying attention.

and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more.

How much more? Why? Wouldn't a lower tax rate allow them to pay employees more -- perhaps that $8 an hour you want?

I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks.

This is the most stupid thing you've said. How do you define rich? Why should a person be ordered to give to the government something he or she has worked his whole life for? DUDE: IT AIN'T YOUR MONEY.

I am not torqued out by homos, blacks, and poor folks. etc. parsy.

I'd be willing to bet they are "torqued out" (whatever that means) by you!

[DugwayDuke]

I've some living wage questions. How do you set it without being unfair? Suppose, a living wage is defined as that which will raise a family above the poverty level. To be fair, shouldn't it vary with the size of the family? Shouldn't a family living at the poverty level get a raise if they have another kid? Should a wage earner with fewer kids get less money that one with more? To be fair of course. What if a kid dies, should there be a wage cut?

[185JHP]

Hang in there - you don't have to accept the template that some will try to foist on you - that "greed is good!". You can be pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Israel, anti-porn and right on the decency issues without falling in with the greedsters. Some business types are decent and honest - some are as vile as any Democreep. Many of the worst of the corporats have such munificent separation packages they aren't really dependent on succeeding at their work - if the board removes them, they walk away with millions. The Republican party is OK on sloth - but they are too silent on greed, which is just as evil. FReegards and I'm glad you've got a heart for working people.

[Triple]

"I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much, and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks." - parsy

Sounds a lot like Marx to me - "from those according to their means, to those according to their needs"

That view is totally incompatible with conservatism and the individual rights on which this country was founded.

[glory]

I think most businessmen share the same mental make-up as criminals and welfare-recipients.

I'm sure my terrific, balanced, loving, caring husband will be glad to know this is what the envious think of him. How heartwarming. My guess is you don't really know any businessmen and your assessment of them is no better than an assessment of someone who is wealthy who've never known working poor.

I am not so sure the rich are being taxed too much, and indeed, tend to think they ought to be taxed more. I think there should be a 100% estate tax for most rich folks

LOVELY!!!! Sooooo, if someone busts thier a$$ to make something of themselves and save something to make lives a little easier for thier children and maybe thier children will even open ANOTHER new business which will employ even more people, but instead all my hard work should be rewarded by having every cent ROBBED from me once I'm in the grave, potentially leaving my own children who might be working poor themselves if they don't choose the same life as us, out in the cold? You are a pathetic THIEF parsi--nothing more!!! Anyone who would advocate STEALING someone's hard earned $$ to give to the government instead of the rightful heirs is a THIEF!

[webstersII]

I support the 2nd Amendment. I believe in the death penalty, in theory. I am against most gov't interference in business. I think gov't is too big and powerful. I think power should be reserved to the people. I think the lazy poor ought to be put to work. I think strip clubs are sinful. I think Hugh Hefner is a pimp. I can't stand Bill Clinton and think he should have been impeached. I think Jesse Jackson is a clown. Gee, should I continue?

This just shows that you are a social conservative and an economic socialist. Which means that you are still a socialist.

[Ramius]

Why stop at $8/hr? Why not just make the minimum wage something really livable, like $50K/year? $100K? Why not?

The prime effect of a minimum wage is to establish the minimum skill level of people entering the labor market. People, like it or not, can only be paid commensurate with the perceived value that they provide to the organization. A wage first requires that the employee provide at least that much value. Raising that amount merely widens the definition of who is 'unemployable' because they don't have a skill set to bring to the employer.

What about the people that are only worth five bucks an hour? You're telling them that they are out of luck. Move along. That's compassion? I think not.